Butterscotch
by Imyoshi
Summary: "You know, in this light you're kinda cute."
**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Kim Possible or RWBY.

 **Butterscotch**

 **By: Imyoshi**

Peace and quiet filled Team RWBY's room in a rare, fleeting moment of serenity. Yang lounged on her bed, combing her hair in repeated, counted strokes with rhythmic precision. Blake contently read her suggestive literature, stopping every so often to glare at what Weiss was doing from above the page. And said person was busy tickling a happy Zwei on his tummy, making faces at the intruder as if all her years of emotionless face training never happened.

In essence, harmony filled the room.

 _Slam_!

"Oh! Guys! Look!"

And in popped in their leader, practically smashing their room's door and frantically waving around a flyer in her hand like a truly madwoman, washing away the rare peace in a sea of noise and star filled eyes.

Well, it was a fleeting moment, after all.

Running around the room, Ruby held up the flyer to Yang first, peering over the edge of the bed with sparkling eyes, and Yang will admit she's positively intrigued in whatever's gotten her baby sister's attention. Although, to be fair, that's not such a hard task to accomplish when it came to Ruby and her never-ending childlike fascination and easy to entertain attitude.

"And what's this?" Plucking the paper from Ruby's shaking hand; Yang barely peers over the yellow paper before Ruby snatches up the flyer, absolutely giddy with joy.

"There's a new weapons shop opening up in Vale! Today!" she pulled Yang's arm, shaking it wildly with unending enthusiasm. "We gotta go!"

Pulling Zwei onto her lap, Weiss glared a little, "A new weapons shop?"

That's definitely an oddity. Not just _anyone_ could open up a weapons shop. Weapon shops were few and rare, far greater than an average day-to-day weapons part shop. To open one up, first a person must pass an intense bar exam designed by other weapon masters to become a top-notch weapon master, to ensure good quality weapons to fight the Grimm, and not just _anyone_ could become a weapons master. Weiss still remembers the story Ruby spun when it came to her leader taking the weapons master test a little more over a year ago before they all came to Beacon.

Ruby had bombed it miserably.

Even on the scythe portion, she had only scored high, not master.

But the girl told her team it was _no big_. All the currently known weapon masters were all way above sixty. Some barely even able to walk anymore, but could still spot the slightest hiccup in any weapon and sprout details beyond details on ways to improve said weapon.

A weapons master had to literally know almost everything about anything when it came to weapons. This included hand-to-hand combat as well. And even harsh, lasting reality experience. Hence why all hunters limited themselves to using only two to three weapons at their max.

In short, a young weapons master that was around Ruby's age would be next to _impossible_. No. It was impossible.

Team RWBY would have a better chance at meeting a hero from a different dimension.

There's a reason that thugs and low-life's weapons tended to be poorly crafted. Getting hold of a custom weapon in the day of age where creating your own weapon was practically tradition was a feat all its own, weapon shops hardly ever sprouted. Most known weapon masters tended to isolate themselves away from Kingdoms to build and craft their art in peace.

To have one open up shop right here in Vale was majorly a rarity. Who knows how long before the shop closes down.

It's no wonder why her leader was beyond excited.

Pinching Ruby on the cheek, Yang grinned lowly, "Sorry, sis, I have to finish that report Professor Peach gave us last week. Maybe tomorrow when this place isn't trying to bury me in an avalanche of homework."

Ruby pouted before looking over to Blake. _Page Flip_! "No can do."

And finally towards her partner, but Weiss shook her head as well, scratching Zwei behind the ears in an effort to comfort herself.

"My schedule is full, I wish I could accompany you to the grand opening," Weiss sighed; she really did wish she could go. But Winter requested her input on some family matters fairly soon, and Weiss loved her big sister too much to pass up any opportunity to bond. "But I cannot."

"Fine them," Ruby pouted adorably, sadden and maybe a tiny bit hurt. But she pushed onward, clutching the flyer close to her chest. "I'm leaving."

Her team watched her leave with a soft slam of the door and they each looked between each other, dreading over possible outcomes to this little tantrum, but Yang waved them off, falling easy onto her bed.

"Aww, don't worry about it. Just make her some cookies and she'll be her old self in no time."

...

Following her scroll to the location, Ruby zoomed across Vale in a flurry of rose petals, dodging unaware pedestrians and looking for this new weapons shop. It opens in five minutes and she couldn't contain her excitement. Not even her traitorous teammates could sour her mood.

Nope!

Turning a corner, her scroll buzzes to alert her almost arrival, and she stops suddenly, looking for any new and refurbished shops ahead of her. Ruby's head waves around to each old store that's already been there for some time, getting adorably angrier with each unsuccessful stare. Her glares eventually turn into a pleading state.

Gosh darn it! This isn't some Dust shop or a Combat Skirt store. This was a Weapons Workshop!

"Where is it?"

Giving up and perhaps thinking her scroll had the wrong directions, Ruby leans on the wall beside her, pouting some more as she checks her scroll. When she discovers the directions were spot on and not mistaken, she leans with her feet out, banging her head on the wall, pretending that hadn't hurt. Then her eyes catch the sight of a white banner hanging lazily above her, servant to the passing wind.

Zooming away, her excitement resurfaces at the _Grand Opening_ banner hanging below the store's name.

"Found it!"

Looking up at the sign, Ruby blinks at the weird monkey symbol hovering above the shop, wondering how the owner even thought of something that odd. And there's the name and slogan of the shop that totally catches her off guard.

"Welcome to Badical N' Stuff! Where our weapons are impossibly different!" Definitely different, but who's she to talk! She's the youngest person to ever enter Beacon Academy, what did she care!

Reaching for the door, Ruby pulled and tried to enter and finds the door stubbornly locked.

"Huh?" she looks at the flyer and spots the time it opens up, practically screaming into the busy street. "It's not opening for another hour! Curse my luck! Ah!"

Ruby knew she should've read past the title. Weiss always did drill her to read the fine print.

...

Pacing in front of the shop, Ruby looked every few minutes at her scroll, watching the numbers slowly ticking by. Her impatience had attracted some attention, since it was far too early for anyone to have that much energy in the morning, but she hadn't paid any mind to them.

Ruby finally gave up and reached for the handle, unable to pull the door open, no matter how much her noodle arms attempted to break the laws of physics!

"C'mon... hurry up already! Open! Open!"

It was a lost cause, and Ruby sighed sadly, leaning on the door with her face pressed up against the glass. She couldn't exactly tell what the shop had inside with its tinted windows, but—!

"Ah!" and the door gave way from being _pushed_ , allowing Ruby not only access in, but giving her a personal one-on-one greet and meet with the clean wooden flooring. _Smack_!

Not knowing what just happened, her answer came in the form of a paper gently landing on her face, obscuring her vision, but her eyes did land on the part where the hours were. Especially on the line of dialogue that clearly stated an early hour opening for the grand opening.

Ruby then tore the paper away from her face, sliding her eyes back to see the clear, black _Push Me_ text on the glass door as it closed on her, and her mind raced faster than even her semblance, hating her darn luck. She even had a slight twitch on her eye.

Damn the fine print!

"Are you alright?" a voice spoke, not lacking any hint of amusement. "That fall looked like it hurt."

Sliding up instantly, Ruby pretended her cheeks weren't flush with embarrassment, and stared at the darn witness. He looked to be around her age with blond hair and a jaw shape almost similar to her friend Jaune's—only his hair more unkempt and shorter, and jaw skinnier—with light brown freckles and eyes, wearing a plain black shirt, grey cargo gloves, an amber, military belt, and what she guessed was a sword with a strange flowery hilt resting on his back. Though she couldn't see underneath the counter to what pants he wore, but she digressed.

Based on his easy-go-lucky smile and young age, this person probably worked here to handle the station when the weapons master was busy. Good, she didn't make her self out to be fool in front of a weapons master. Talk about what an embarrassing that could've been.

"I'm fine," she dusted off her combat skirt, instantly realizing the situation in front of her.

She was in the weapons shop!

"Are you sure—?" the teen never got to finish as the girl zoomed across the small store in obvious glee. She checked every knock and cranny, inspecting as far as towards every element the elemental Dust blades conjured up to some Dust gauntlets, even picking apart the inner workings of an aura revolver that transformed into a dagger.

Metal, wiring, schematics, they were all victims of the girl's onslaught to check each and everything. It was so strange to see anyone engrossed so heavily in weapons... especially only in the C-Class weapons and blueprints. To be fair though, she did not know that only C-Class weapons and blueprints littered the front of the store. But placing higher level weapons and blueprints is just asking for trouble.

Resting one arm on the table while propping himself up with his elbow, he waited patiently for her to finish exploring, wondering if not he should bring out some B-Class weapons for her to drool over. Might make for an amusing sight? Of course those wouldn't be in the front, as such for the A-Class and even few S-Class weapons.

The blond was brought out of his thoughts when she spilled a pile of mechanic marvels onto the counter, looking absolutely pleased.

"How much for all this?!"

Glancing curiously at the pile, he stopped short for a moment, too lazy to count, before shrugging his shoulders and ringing up a price that seemed fair for low grade weapons, blueprints, and attachments. And she was his first customer of the day. Call it a first customer special. Plus her smile broke him down a bit.

"Two-hundred liens," he mused.

"Only that much?" she hiccuped, unable to keep the sheer audacity out of her voice.

He took no offense, shrugging his shoulders to a back door, "These aren't really the best stuff I have. All the really cool stuff is in the back."

No way!

Ruby couldn't even believe it. There was even _more_ stuff in the back and it was _even_ better?! Better! She wanted to see them! Like now! How dare they hide all the good stuff from her. Didn't this weapons shop know who she was?

She grabbed the counter, leaning impossibly closer over the edge, "Like what?!"

Smiling lazily at her, he decided to humor her and reach into his cargo pants that Ruby could now see over the counter and pulled out a simple lipstick tube, placing the small female accessory down on the counter with a satisfying _slam_.

"There you go. Behold and feast your eyes on an almighty B-Class weapon!" he dramatically praised, doing a small ninja pose at the item.

Ruby grabbed the tube, not very impressed, "This is just a tube of lipstick?"

Raising an amused eyebrow, he picked the lipstick out her hands and picked up a piece of some of the awesome metal Ruby choose, twisted the tube of lipstick, and instantly a laser shot out and completely went through the metal, cutting down in a perfect line. He did this a few more times until the metal became ragged squares of sheet, ready to be melted down.

Ruby remained speechless and the sparkle in her eyes did not go unnoticed by him as he pulled out another display of B-Class gadgets from his pocket. This time what appeared to be an ordinary pair of sunglasses?

Handing her the specs, he pressed a button on the upper corner, "And these are Infrared sunglasses."

"Infrared?"

Answering her question with a simple shove of the specs towards her face, Ruby's vision quickly converted to a blue background with the guy shrouded in a ruby red outline of color. She then turned her head in a frenzy and could see the red outlines of people passing by outside the shop. Anything warm before her became completely visible and so, _so_ easy to aim and shoot.

Then the world comes back to more color as the specs are pulled away above her head from a chuckling blond, perceptibly enjoying her stunned amusement.

"Those two little toys were the Laser Lipstick and the Spectrometer Sunglasses. I know, they rock. Only some of the better weapons we have stored away for the inspiring weapon's enthusiast."

Lost for words, she eyes the two gadgets in his hands, wanting them. Ideas of being sneaky filled the young girl's head—a gift from Yang—and those two weapons would be absolutely perfect to add to her arsenal of goodies! And she's not gonna lie, those glasses did look awesome.

"How much?!" Ruby demanded adorably.

The blond racked his brain for a price, realizing he might need one more day too properly or lack of therefore, add price tags to his stuff. Least avoids all the unnecessary thinking, such a pain, criminal, really. Still, he almost felt bad. These two weapons still didn't compare to the greater selection he kept in the back and yet this girl really wanted them.

Oh well.

Business is business.

"How about... a thousand lien each—?"

Snatching them from his hand, Ruby instantly drops the weapons onto her pile, reaching for her trusty wallet before he tries to take back his decision. No way in Oum will she allow those pitch black sunglasses to escape her grasp.

Unable to fight off her adorableness, he silently laughs, leaning back on the wall behind him with an assortment of weapon materials, other knickknacks, personal items, and more for a background. And it's the first time Ruby noticed the shelf behind his counter, glancing once over at the assortment of Dust crystals and ammunition above his shoulder.

Oh? He sells Dust as well. That's convenient. Usually only Dust shops sell Dust, not weapon shops, or at least as far as she knows. Weapon part shops don't normally sell Dust, but this was a _Weapons_ shop—totally different!

Yup! Totally!

Well... she was already here and her baby was running low on Dust ammunition, anyways. And he did give amazing deals! Be a crime not to buy them.

Ruby pointed at the red infused Dust ammunition carton, "Can I also get a mag of fire Dust rounds?"

Shrugging his shoulders slothfully, he turned over to grab a mag and Ruby spots a plaque covered partially by his shoulder that reads out certified Weapons Master in bold letters. Her interest quickly reemerges, half reminding her one of the reasons she came so early.

To meet a real weapons master!

Looking around the small shop, Ruby notes how small it really is except for the back door for what she knows stores the better weapons. The windows were tinted and the entire shop was covered in a rich caramel color like the guy's eyes. Weapons and accessories litter the wall, and before long, she finally gives up her search and looks back at the blond who lastly finds the correct element of Dust she wanted, attempting to reach out and grab it, but Ruby's voice stops him.

"By the way, can I meet the weapons master? My name is Ruby Rose and I would love to meet one!" she cupped her hands, smiling pleadingly. "Please! I'll wait for however long it takes for them to get back if they're gone! Please!"

There's a subtle tilt of his head that Ruby doesn't miss and clear lost stare. A small silence fills the store for a bit before the blond points at himself as if she's a bit slow, "You're looking at him... I own this shop."

And that small silence stretches for who knows how long. Seconds eventually turn into a whole minute and Ruby's still very, _very_ lost. "... What?"

"I own this shop," he pushed his arms out; spreading them far across the small weapons shop. Emotion creeps back into his voice, "This is mine. No one else works here. _I'm_ the weapons master. I thought you figured that out?"

Fighting the urge to scream, groan, and shake her head vigorously in absolute denial, Ruby denies what he said, not believing for a second someone so young—practically her age—could be a weapons master. This had to be a joke.

A good joke. She'll laugh later. Ha, ha. But a joke nonetheless.

"... You're joking."

Bringing his arms down, he glared a tiny bit at her, running his gloved fingers on the fabric of his dark grey cargo pants.

"I'm not joking," not seeing the big deal at her instant denial; he grabbed a plaque from the wall, placing it on the desk as he went back to reach for the Dust crystals she requested. "Here, take a look. Read it and weep."

Little did he know, there's a reason his identity hadn't been known across Vale.

Ruby peered over the authentic plaque, clearly able to see his image on the front with the title of Weapons Master displayed in large, bold lettering. The organization where you take the test to qualify had their stamp at the bottom, identifying its authentication. Her head then whipped up and she saw other plaques with photos on them with him... and other well-known weapon masters!

Pictures of them laughing together, holding unique weapon parts, and even enjoying a nice refreshing beverage with some of the best. In all, compared to the appearance of the entire old weapons master community, he didn't look like he belonged there. Not at all.

Far too young.

But he was there. There was proof on the wall. Even a picture of a well-known weapons master hugging him around his shoulder with the plaque proving once and for all that this guy—this _guy_ was indeed a weapons master.

Someone who looked no older than her was a weapons master.

It all seemed to impossible. Like a dream. A bad, _bad_ dream.

Forcing her eyes back to the guy in front of her, she felt lost. Words refused to bubble up from the lake of doubt from mouth, unable to properly process what she's learning. All her earlier excitement died and she felt trapped. Trapped in an iron box that was pushed into a bottomless cavern and filled with lukewarm water.

But at some point, Ruby finds the courage and inner strength to speak, even if plain denial still laced every single one of her words with a sleek poison of disbelief.

"Y-You're a w-weapons m-master?" a simple nod of the head is her answer and she's left with a knot in her stomach, "B-But I've never heard or seen you before?"

And Ruby Rose knows her weapon masters.

He seemed to slowly stumble over her words, glancing once over to his sword that hung close to his back with lost interest before looking back the adorable girl standing across from him. Then his manners reached him and he moved forward.

"Oh... I'm sorry! I'm still new to this and forgot to introduce myself," he grinned, leaning over the counter with a smile that rivaled Ruby's friend Nora Valkyrie and cheerful endeavor that almost seemed contagious. "Welcome to Badical N' Stuff. I'm the owner, Ron Stoppable."

...

Sprawled lazily on her partner's bed, Nora Valkyrie rested contently with a soft snore and even softer bubble threatening to burst any given from her nose like the true bomber she was. Ren sat nearby, unable to get away with Nora's arms wrapped around one of his own.

Every time he tried to ninja away, she would whine in her sleep and Ren would be guilt-ridden to stay, unable to take away the peaceful smile on his childhood friend's face. Not like he wanted to anyways, but his arm was starting fall asleep. And she kept cuddling closer and closer every few minutes, almost pressing her cheek to his bicep.

Pyrrha amusingly watched from across the room, polishing her weapons and silently wondering whether or not she should help her trapped teammate. Though her answer comes in the form of her leader entering their room with a butterscotch flyer in his hand, grinning like the fool he was sometimes. But she would follow that fool anywhere.

Jaune stops to take in the scene in front of him, he then moves over towards Ren and the sleeping Nora and madly shakes Ren before quickly sliding up to Pyrrha to watch the outcome from the intense shaking. And the death glare Ren's giving him is absolutely priceless.

Waking up, Nora latches tightly on Ren's arm even more, yawning loudly.

"Awww," she moaned, staring at Ren with an intensity that screamed a knife in the back. "Why'd you wake me? I was having the best dream about a pancake covered castle, with me being the Pancake Queen and you being my faithful Sloth Ki—?!"

Nora stopped herself, moving away from Ren, but he calmly gazed at her, "What was that, Nora?"

"Nothing!"

Jaune threw his own comment, "But it sounded like—?"

"I said it was nothing!" she yelled heatedly before looking over to Pyrrha pleadingly. And her fellow female got the message and smiled gently, if not a bit guilty.

"She's right," Pyrrha giggled. "It was probably nothing important."

Both the males seemed to leave it like that, not noticing the way Nora sighed a breath of relief.

Remembering why he searched for his team instead of working on Professor Peach's report, Jaune held up a piece of paper for his team to spot, easily grabbing their attention.

"What's that, fearless leader? Is it another detention slip from Miss Goodwitch?" Nora poked.

"No!" he yelled defensively. "It's not _another_ detention slip from Professor Goodwitch. And she switched her color. Now they're purple—and that's beside the point!" he grinned. "A new Weapons shop has opened up in Vale today and I think it would be a good idea to go check it out. I know the guy that works there. He and I went through some crazy adventure together, but that's another story. Today he finally opens his very own Weapons shop."

Ren stared at his leader, slowly grabbing the paper from his hand, "You mean a weapons part store?"

He too knew the level required to open a Weapons shop. It was common to mix between the two. Very few did, but his leader wasn't one of those people.

Jaune smirked, knowing full well the difference between the two, "No, I mean a weapons shop."

...

Hanging back at Badical N' Stuff, Ruby's brain felt like cookie dough—all mushy, sluggish, and cold. Nothing made sense anymore to her. Words refused to form but her thoughts raced far faster than she could ever run, trying to pinpoint something to say to Remnant's youngest weapons master.

Anything!

"What kind of name is Ron Stoppable?"

Darn her mouth. Weiss always did say it would give her trouble. But did she listen? Nope!

Ron found her question odd, but humorous all the same if the grin on his face served any hint. Openly he expected something a tad different, but honestly saw no real point to her stumbling and utter confusion. So he answers back with his own intelligent response.

"What kind of name is Ruby Rose?"

Clearly the question proved to be the right one as the girl lost all her stumbling confidence, replacing it with a great fire in her silvery eyes.

"Hey!" she pouted. "I would have you know my name is perfect."

"For a flower maybe."

The nerve!

Ruby's face flushed red, unable to believe in a few short words that _Ron_ managed to easily get under her skin without so much as a care. This must be what being Yang's partner felt like. Although she probably wasn't being totally fair here, with her emotions all jumbled around after Ron dropped the bomb at being Remnant's youngest weapons master, beating all the other masters by at least forty-years and severely throwing her sense of weaponry all out of whack.

Yet, she still found a way to control herself, angry and confused but in control.

Calming herself, Ruby blinked once at Ron Stoppable and his carefree smile, not sure which one of her millions of question she could ask him. This time she hopes it's not something so dumb.

"How old are you?"

Perfect!

"Hn?" he glanced over his shoulder and at the sword on his back, unsure if his birthday has already passed. Hard to tell. Last he remembered, "Sixteen."

Ruby's world stopped there.

Sixteen... _sixteen_!

Forget by at least forty-years. Ron's even younger than she thought, younger than Yang and most of her friends. Wait? He is younger than all her friends, beating only her by about a few months!

Ruby's hand flew up to her hair in a dramatic fashion as if her whole inner world had been rattled and shattered at the same time, "And you _own_ a weapons shop!"

"No," he grinned, now fixing the Dust shelf. The amusement did not go unnoticed by the adorkable girl, only fueling his natural good fun nature. "I just work and sleep here on my spare time. I'm actually an ex-sidekick for a teen crime fighter from a different dimension before a crazy adventure accident pulled me into this freaky world with nothing but my badical, _magical_ sword to back me up and a good friend who I tagged along with."

Her brow raised, "And you _expect_ me to believe that?"

"... I also have a pet Beowolf I named Rufus sleeping upstairs."

OK, now Ruby knows he's lying.

"Sure," she huffed, almost snorting really. Give the leader of Team RWBY some credit, she's not that gullible. She drinks milk.

"Hey, I told you," Ron argued playfully. "If you don't wanna believe me, that's your business."

Ruby swore there was a hint of sadness in his smile from his obvious lie, but it was practically impossible to tell. She didn't know him well enough to know. No matter what her gut painstakingly told her. But forgetting all that, Ruby still tried to make sense of the situation hoping for some semblance of _normality_ to return.

"Your family must be full of expert weapon makers for you to be already own your own weapon shop?" she hoped, silently begging that was the case. Please, please be the case. Or there will be so many, many wasted years.

"Nah," he waved nonchalantly, leaning forward on the counter. "My... _family..._ is all hunters or hunters-in-training. They even use handy downs from their ancestors and I was like, nope! No way! So here I am, the only weapons smith in a family full of hero crazed siblings. They didn't even know how to use a gun until last year."

Yup, that did it.

"Um," Ron peered over the counter, losing his smile for the first time. "Are you okay?"

Ruby lied on the floor in fetal position, a cloud of depression overcoming her figure, "Yea, I'm just sulking here. Don't mind me."

"Oh, okay?" he blinked, unsure for first time on what to do. Does he call somebody for this sitch or something? "Did... you have any more questions? I got nothing but time."

Ruby barely looked up, thinking so hard on how someone so young could surpass her love for weapons so casually. Ron didn't even look like a classic weapon nut. Just another normal person she would see on her way to class. But the cruel irony was _she_ was the normal person, he wasn't. Well maybe not exactly normal, still stuck on that whole notion of being the bee's knees, but Ruby still felted cheated.

Getting over initial episode, she got up, breathing slowly, arms out and eyes closed before looking Ron squarely in the eyes with Weiss level determination.

Ruby then points accusingly at him, shaking her hand in mock fury, "I do have another question!"

Ron's grin returned, "And what can that positively be?"

Losing her powerful endeavor, Ruby flashed in a flurry of petals behind the counter, next to Ron, just now noticing he had a good head over her in the height department. A smile that matched his own came into play and she stood on the edge of her toes, leaning close.

"Can I see your weapon?!"

So he was the youngest weapons master in all of Remnant. She'll get over it... eventually. Not really. He's only a year older than her. That's not a big deal even if it did and was eating away at her very slowly. And if he _really_ was a weapons master, then his personal weapon must be something on a totally different level! She'll push her eternal depression away for the moment and swallow some of her pride to see his weapon!

Caught-off-guard, Ron took a small step back, losing his cool composure for once. That did not go unnoticed by the jealous reaper.

A little confused, Ron eyed his sword strapped to his back, silently having a mock conversation with the blade in front of Ruby before looking back at her with a slow smile capturing his face once more. Her heart beats in anticipation, waiting for an answer. Then Ron shrugs, ruffling up Ruby's hair before she could stop him.

"No."

And her earlier anger returns tenfold, "What do you mean— _no_?" she demands, looking back between Ron and his obvious sword strapped hanging mysteriously to his back.

Ron enjoys the adorable pout she has, glad that so far his first customer turned out to be a pretty cute girl with an interesting set of emotions. Nothing makes a day great like a non-normal conversation and experience.

"I mean no," he answers, folding his arms. "Why would I show you my totally badical weapon?"

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

There's something wrong with that sentence.

Ignoring her blatant contempt, Ron slowly looks over Ruby's shoulder and cape and sees a red box-shaped object hanging close to her hip. He pauses for a short moment, closely listening for something Ruby cannot fathom or comprehend and there's a tiny vibration he feels coming from his mythical sword and his eyes light up a bit in complete recognition.

"That's fine," he declined, waving his hand lazily. "I can see your high-caliber sniper-scythe just fine from right here."

Ron doesn't even see her hand move as she grabbed the threading of his black shirt, pulling him impossibly close to her eye level with surprisingly superhuman strength. Both curiosity and surprise filled those oddly silvery eyes of hers and her other hand has already pulled that red box away from her hip, shaking the darn thing in a calm panic close to his face.

"How did you know that?!" she all but screams.

Pushing her hand away, Ron checked his ears for damage, "You didn't have to scream so loud, you know?" Ruby doesn't say anything, still waiting for him to fess up. "What? C'mon, I'm a weapons master here. Hello?! Did you already forget that?"

That hardly does anything to lower Ruby's hysteria. "That doesn't mean you could just glance at my weapon and know what it is?! No one's _that_ good!"

Ron fought the urge to ruffle up her hair again. But he did smirk, "I am."

Ruby really wanted to argue, but she killed the urge mercilessly. He did have a plaque of authentication for being a weapons master. Maybe he recognized something in Crescent Rose travel design, she didn't really know. None of it made any sense to her. How did he know? How! And now she's realized her final trump card had been played without her even knowing. Ron had no reason to show her his weapon's power or even complete design.

All she could see was the strange hilt of the sword pressed to his back.

Still... she wouldn't give up. Not now.

Placing her weapon away, Ruby gave Ron her best puppy-dog pout she could muster, remembering all the times she's gotten her Uncle Crow to fold from all the times she's used it. It's never failed her before! And it won't fail her now! It can't! It won't! Please don't!

"So you really won't tell me what your weapon does?"

Not prepared for the dreaded puppy dog pout, Ron cursed his dumb luck, hating how that damn pout seemed to always find him no matter where he went. That included different planets or dimensions.

And in the end, he caved. Like always. No one could say no to _that_ face.

Fighting those powerful instincts, Ron sighed, thinking some truth will be good now. "Fine, fine! I'll give you a hint," she seemed to brighten up at that, stepping closer. Ron however did not notice, instead choosing his words carefully. "Ruby... what's... a weapons masters' greatest weapon?"

Blinking, Ruby's brain stops.

She should know this!

"... Uh?"

Ron saves her the trouble, "Their imagination. That's a weapons masters' greatest weapon. Their imagination is what allows a weapon maker to create and build such radical designs and think of the best ideas." Grabbing the handle of his blade, Ron pulls his sword from over his shoulder, showing Ruby the plain shiny blue sword with a lotus hilt. "And that's also my weapon's power. My imagination!"

His imagination?

How does that work?

"And how exactly is your imagination _your_ greatest weapon?"

The grin he had practically rivaled Yang's in every way, shape, and form, and Ruby Rose would be lying—which would go against her moral code—if she wasn't even the least bit curious to what Ron Stoppable's so called weapon could do. To her eye, nothing struck odd about the blade. If he really was a certified weapons master—gosh did that hurt to admit—then his personal weapon must be simply amazing! But all he holds is a plain looking sword with no appraising features whatsoever.

Suffice to say, she's sorely disappointed.

But Ron Stoppable continued to smile, casually resting the bluish blade on his shoulder.

"Now _that's_ a secret."

Ruby Rose really hated secrets, which in turn meant she hated Ron Stoppable. And Ruby Rose didn't hate, except on vegetables and anyone dissing Crescent Rose. But Ron really found a way to get under her skin with the minimalist of effort like it's natural for him. To be lazy and yet endearing all the same. A true talent for laziness if she ever saw one, and she had Yang Xiao Long for a sister.

Wanting to argue some more and challenge this so called weapons master, she never gets the chance as random customers start to fill the store. Slowly, one-by-one they entered, and Ron shoots her an apologetic smile before turning his attention to the new customers. And she wants to huff, fight, and argue for answers she needs, but won't.

It is the grand opening and all.

She can wait until it's closing time.

...

Time passes by and the grand opening is a success with Ron's badical weapons already getting some much needed attention. People are awestruck by simple prices and unique weapons like the ones Ruby saw. Though Ruby is tempted to ask about the weapons in the back since Ron hasn't pointed those out to anyone, yet. Not like it mattered, people just ate up whatever was on display.

Sitting on a lone stool that Ron so graciously provided her, Ruby kicked her feet out a few times on the wooden chair, occasionally checking her own items she purchased earlier. It's only been two hours but it's felt way, way longer. And the longer she waits, the more she ponders over Ron's hint.

Imagination?

That's his weapon's power?

That explanation only led to more questions than answers. Questions she refused to abandon for her boredom. No matter how tempted the idea of leaving sounded with each passing second. Forget his weapon for a quick second, she's still stuck in mid-denial about him being a certified weapons master.

In due time the customers start to die down after another hour and Ron returns to his number one customer, smiles and all. But before Ruby could force a conversation, in pops in more customers, this time ones she recognizes.

"Whoa! Ren! Look at all the cool stuff this place has! Oh! Look! He has hammers and hammer attachments over there! I _must_ see them!"

"Nora," Ren poked, grabbing her shoulder before she could run off. "Try not to break anything, alright?"

Nora's already gone, and Ren sighs under his breath as he follows along shortly after her, prepared to stop her before she causes any untold amounts of damage. Meanwhile Jaune and Pyrrha enter right behind them with the cereal girl looking absolutely perplexed at an _actual_ Weapons shop. Jaune on the other hand shows no sign of curiosity as his eyes spot Ruby before spotting Ron who has his back still turned away.

Jaune Arc then grins in a way that suddenly makes Ruby want to wipe that stupid smile off his face.

"What's this? Having your back turned to your customers," he mocked, _tching_ under his breath in a way Ruby's never seen him act. "That's poor business etiquette."

Ruby saw Ron's face brighten at the sound of Jaune's face. His eyes then became a bit mischievous and he turned to meet her first friend head on. "Jaune! You crazy taco! Get over here!"

They both moved, doing the manly one arm hug with a very confused Pyrrha Nikos and Ruby Rose watching from the sidelines. Then they laugh for no reason, and both the females swear there is something oddly familiar between the two of them. But they couldn't for the life of them place their aura on it.

Eventually when the arm hug that turned into a male struggle, Ruby spoke up first, voicing even more shock than before.

"Jaune! You know this guy?!"

They stop their power struggle to blink once at Ruby before Ron looks over to Jaune, adding his own question.

"Jaune, you know this girl?"

Caught in a deadlock—both figuratively and literally—Jaune wasn't exactly sure what the sitch was, a term he quickly picked up from Ron, and narrowed his eyes a bit. Based on the way Ruby looked ready to attack, probably not too good. And both the blonds shared a sideways glance, telepathically thinking about an unspoken, excellent adventure that _they_ still didn't believe happened.

"Yea, he's my..." Jaune looked over to Ron who shrugged in the deadlock. "He's my... cousin?"

Ruby's crazy button is once more pushed again.

 _My... family... is all hunters or hunters-in-training. They even use handy downs from their ancestors..._ _They didn't even know how to use a gun until last year._

Ron's family uses old weapons, Jaune's family uses old weapons. Jaune doesn't use a gun. They're blond. They sort of look the same. They obviously know each other. Jaune's a hunter-in-training. Ron's the odd man out.

In short, they're possibly related!

And Ruby finally blows!

Flashing before Jaune with her semblance, she grabs his sweater, shaking her damn friend in a struggle that would impress Nora. "How come you never told me you knew a weapons master?!"

"H-He only just t-took the exam last month." Jaune answered through the shaking, silently wondering what's transpired during the few hours he wasn't here. "And you n-never asked."

Ruby just throws her hands up in the air in unbelievable frustration, walking away towards a corner in the store in a huff while mumbling things about dumb blonds and how totally unfair life seemed to be. Jaune personally didn't see the problem here, nor did Ron, but someone as hell sure did, but she smartly decided to keep this little spark of info to herself.

Instead Pyrrha seemed positively ecstatic to be meeting a member of her leader's family. Especially if what she just heard was true.

"Jaune," she tapped his shoulder, grabbing both the blonds attention. "Aren't you going to introduce me?"

Remembering his manners, Jaune grinned, turning the headlock towards his partner's direction, "Ron, this is my partner, Pyrrha Nikos."

Ron tilts his head at her, "She kind of looks familiar?"

Jaune brings Ron closer, whispering into his ear, "She's the girl on the box of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes."

He whispers back, "You mean that cereal that taste like someone died?"

"That's right."

Pyrrha wonders if she should tell them that she can hear every word they're saying, but then Ron untangles himself from the deadlock, offering a handshake for the four-time champion. She of course accepts this with grace.

"Hello, the name's Ron, Ron Stoppable!"

"And I'm Pyrrha Nikos. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Pyrrha stops the handshaking, looking over to Ruby who's playing with a tube of lipstick and wearing some snazzy sunglasses, and looks back at Ron in peak interest, "Is it true that you're a weapons master?"

Ron laughs, doing an embarrassing ninja pose, "You betcha! Ron Stoppable, newest weapons master at your service. I do parties and weddings."

"No he doesn't," Jaune argued.

"Why must you hurt me?"

Enjoying their bickering, Pyrrha's having a little trouble processing meeting a fellow member of Jaune's _family_. She didn't have much knowledge when it came to weapon history or customs, so she understood very little how big of a deal being a weapons master meant. And she wishes she could ask a little more, but there's a crash in the background with an tired groan coming from her teammates and _oops_ coming from the other.

"Excuse me, Jaune," she turned to Ron. "It was nice meeting you," and left to go settle any problems between Ren and Nora.

Watching Pyrrha leave, Jaune looks over back to Ruby who was glaring at the weapon display of Dust attachments. Her posture seemed very stiff, "So I see you met Ruby?"

"Hn?" he glanced over and hummed. "Yea... she's a handful, met her when I opened up. She was actually the first one here, believe it or not."

His so called cousin actually laughed at this, "Yea, that sounds like something Ruby would do. I'm not sure if you noticed, but she's a bit of a weapons nut."

"Oh, believe me, I've noticed." Ron said. "Who is she by the way and how do you know her?"

"I met Ruby..." one long explanation later. "... and she was my first friend at Beacon."

"Well..." Ron sighed cheerfully, "That explains a lot of things."

Checking around the shop and outside the window, Jaune notes how dark it was outside and the absence of his team. "Hey, where's my team at?"

Ron shrugged again, relaxing more on the wall, "I don't know, they left a few minutes ago. It's getting pretty close for me to close up actually. It's just us three now."

Jaune paused, staring at the still waiting Team RWBY leader, "Speaking of the three of us, what's wrong with Ruby? She's been sitting there all day, looking sort of mad?"

Ron had the nerve to look guilty in front of him with him scratching the side of his cheek and all. "That's kind of my fault. She wanted to see the Lotus Blade's power and I said no. I don't think she's going to leave me alone now until she does."

"That's what you get for bragging."

"Yea, yea, rub it in why don't you. Kick me while I'm down."

Jaune shook his, mocking Ron, "That's a good one. Too bad you're never actually down."

Ron glared a little, smirking, "And what's that supposed to mean? Hn? Want to enlighten me?"

He paused for a moment before eyeing the blade on Ron's back, knowing the sword's true power. "A little unfair don't you think?" he raises a brow. "That sword of yours gives you all the answers. That weapons master's test must've been a cake walk."

Ron gives Jaune a proper comeback, "How's that lying and sneaking into Beacon thing working out for you? You know, that school that kinda needs you to know how to hold a sword. I heard they made _you_ leader."

"Ha-ha, hilarious, Ron. You're funny."

"I've got a million of them."

They remained silent for a while, done with their banter, and Ron kept glancing back at where Ruby sat, waiting patiently for something to happen. That special stubbornness reminded him of someone near and dear to him and made his chest ache from lingering memories. Even having given everything up and being given a chance to live in a new world, Ron still found time every now and then to reflect back on his lost past.

Sometimes he wondered whatever happened to his best friend, but what's past is past. No changing that possibility anymore. He should just be glad he's gotten this second chance. Maybe this time he could finally relax and not worry about some megalomania villain out bent for world domination. Would be a nice change of pace. Who knows?

Maybe Ron Stoppable could find himself a nice girl to eventually settle down with. God knows he's tired for a sixteen year old. Death did nothing to relieve the burden off his shoulders like popular belief speculated. If anything, he felt even heavier now. Maybe the feeling came with being a liar. Ron instinctively knew he didn't belong here on Remnant.

But Jaune and him both beat Death, be a shame not to reap in the rewards—pun not intended. Good. Ron hated puns.

That aside, sometimes the sidekick wondered and gazed at the broken moon random nights, wondering what to do with his new life. The idea of being normal for once sounded good... at the time. But who wanted to be normal? Normal was overrated. Never be normal, that was what he always said. Yet somehow, someway, he found a way to beat that out of him. Choosing to remain in the background as a simple shop owner. Never to reclaim the lost feeling of adrenaline, that painstakingly enough, he was starting to miss.

Reaching for the hilt of the Lotus Blade, Ron felt the power talk to him, relate to his problems. Besides Jaune, this sword knew the true history behind his entire existence. Even more so than Jaune Arc himself. Not too far-fetched, Jaune only knew what Ron told him. And he only told him so much. Both because remembering still brought unwelcome pain to his heart, but if he was ever going to let go of his past, the last thing he needed to do was talk about it.

Looking back over to the girl sitting on the stool with her legs moving carelessly to the motion of gravity and momentum, Ron came to a conclusion.

Gambling his dumb luck once more, Ron's eyes relaxed on Ruby, thinking _why the hell not._

Never be normal, that's what he _always_ said.

"Can she keep a secret?"

"... No."

"Good, neither can I."

Why not push fate once more? He's survived this long. Blame his dumb luck, blame so called destiny. Blame whoever! He didn't care. Not really. Not since the day he died—beat Death—and took his first steps into this new, and strange world.

Getting off the wall, Ron Stoppable made his way over to Ruby Rose with his Lotus Blade tucked securely in his hand and her eyes widening. The female reaper doesn't know what to make of his sudden actions, but they all become clear and yet completely confusing when the sword in Ron's hand transforms into an exact replica of Crescent Rose in a quick burst of random energy.

Something that should not have been possible on so many levels for she's never heard of a weapon ever doing that.

Nor did she ever once reveal Crescent Rose's actual weapon form to him, but that didn't stop Ron from hanging the perfect replica scythe on his shoulder with hardly any effort, using only one hand.

"You know, in this light you're kinda cute."

* * *

 **Author:** This story is connected to **Ivory,** another Ron Stoppable and RWBY one-shot. So you probably need to read that to understand this universe.

By the way, the cover art is pretty much how I envision Ron's face in the RWBY verse. More fun pictures in the future. And all Kim Possible (Ron Stoppable) and RWBY related stories will all probably be one-shots that are interconnect if I write them.

 **P.S.** For your information, the **Lotus Blade** can turn into any weapon and is a real Kim Possible weapon from the show that uses **Mystical Monkey Powers**. Ron has **Mystical Monkey Powers** and used the **Lotus Blade** to cheat and lie to gain acceptance like a certain blond we all know and love. It was hinted in this one-shot if you missed it.


End file.
